Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Troll]

8 minutes ago, WilliamPS said:

Leicester need an outsider to change the atmosphere in the dressing room, but they may have left it too late

 

Benitez did a great job at Newcastle- he was comically better than the managers either side of him. It was such a relief to have a professional in charge who sent his team out with a plan and incredibly well drilled after Mclaren and then we saw with Bruce what happens when you take that structure away again.

 

However he’s coming to the end of his career, am not sure how it will work out at Leicester 

 

He's only 62.  Could easily have another decade in him, just needs to find the right job.

[toontownman]

The thought of Marsch being rated higher than rafa make my brain 

 

No doubt his stock has fallen but with Leicester in a similar position to us and Rafa given resources in the Championship if he didn't turn it around, I'd roll that dice and think with vision and a set of fans that weren't wanting him to fail (like Everton) he would be a great fit for Leicester.

[Gawalls]

34 minutes ago, Sean said:

Anyone who has a bad word to say about Rafa should be put on ignore by the rest of the forum.

Genuine concern - is that what this forums come you now? 

[bigfella]

9 minutes ago, Gawalls said:

Genuine concern - is that what this forums come you now? 

 

Is that one of them haikus?

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

Pretty obvious then and now that there were big problems at Everton. Hiring a legend of your local rivals was never going to work. He might have wanted to sort out players and the culture but hardly surprising that the players who didn’t want to go along would have been able to get rid of him pretty quickly. 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Shays Given Tim Flowers

[toontownman]

15 minutes ago, bigfella said:

 

Is that one of them haikus?

No haikus allowed

That's an instant perma-ban

Don't do that here please.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by toontownman

[Deuce]

2 hours ago, Menace said:

....

 

Like in China?

 

I have respect for Rafa, and I feel like he did a good job with the resources he had here. Let's not beat around the bush though his last job was poor. That Rondon signing was absolutely honking.

 

 

 

Rondon who scored 11 league goals for us that season?

 

Edit: unless you’re…not one of iz…

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Deuce

[MrRaspberryJam]

1 minute ago, Deuce said:

Rondon who scored 11 league goals for us that season?

 

Edit: unless you’re…not one of iz…

 

 

 

 

I may have misread it but is he not on about Rafa signing Rondon at Everton, ie. His last job

[Deuce]

4 minutes ago, MrRaspberryJam said:

 

I may have misread it but is he not on about Rafa signing Rondon at Everton, ie. His last job

Yeah I read it too quickly. Rondon was a terrible signing at Everton. 

[Sean]

38 minutes ago, Gawalls said:

Genuine concern - is that what this forums come you now? 

It's a joke

[Ste]

He needs a top flight club that will be ready made for him and on the up, but his stock has fallen so much he won’t get that. He needs a rebuild job and I think if he doesn’t get Leicester who I think will suit him right now, he needs to be looking at top half Champo clubs. 

[Ste]

Thinking about it, if I were Rafa I’d be keeping a close eye on Wrexham over the next few years. 

[Stifler]

Leicester are down, if he goes there he gets tagged with taking them down much like he did here, no matter how unfair that viewpoint maybe.

[St1pe]

How in the world are Leicester opting for Dean Smith over Rafa. What the fuck is wrong with clubs. That’s before considering their first choice was Yank Lampard. 

[TRon]

49 minutes ago, Ste said:

He needs a top flight club that will be ready made for him and on the up, but his stock has fallen so much he won’t get that. He needs a rebuild job and I think if he doesn’t get Leicester who I think will suit him right now, he needs to be looking at top half Champo clubs. 

 

I don't think that would be the worst option tbh, an ambitious championship club would probably be a decent fit. He was always a good coach and tactician which makes him better than 90% of most managers in the English football leagues. I always respected Rafa's methods precisely because he knew exactly what he wanted, and made sure his players bought into it as well. It might take a year or two, but you would imagine he'd find his way back into the premier league within a year or two if he was put in charge of a championship club.

[magvicar]

6 hours ago, KaKa said:

 

Yikes. Crazy stuff. This Rafa slander is terrible.

 

You do realise he was the one that first contacted Staveley and so actually even has a hand in our current situation.

 

Rafa is a huge reason we are currently where we are man. Stop it.

We all have our opinions and I respect yours but I simply did not enjoy his time at Newcastle and I was genuinely happy to see him leave.

I'm not too sure about what you mean in him contacting Staveley.

[magvicar]

6 hours ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

Mental! He worked wonders here. He left because his contract expired and Ashley did fuck all about it. To side with MA in that scenario is absolutely crazy.

How did he work wonders?

He was offered a new contract but he wanted 6 million a year, unless that's not correct.

He then chose to go to a Chinese club with a pretence that it was just the project he needed when it was plain to see it was the silly money on offer.

I have zero time for him.

[magvicar]

6 hours ago, The Butcher said:

 

To be fair, I know this isn't a welcome opinion but it is my genuine opinion.

[toon25]

45 minutes ago, Ste said:

Thinking about it, if I were Rafa I’d be keeping a close eye on Wrexham over the next few years. 

He won't fancy managing in League 2, which is where they'll be for the next 3-4 years.

[KaKa]

17 minutes ago, magvicar said:

We all have our opinions and I respect yours but I simply did not enjoy his time at Newcastle and I was genuinely happy to see him leave.

I'm not too sure about what you mean in him contacting Staveley.

 

It was through his Liverpool connections that he apparently brought Staveley to the table regarding buying Newcastle the first time around in 2017 and Staveley followed up from there again with the current PIF bunch later on after Mike Ashley threw a tantrum and pulled the plug on that first deal.

[Jagten]

26 minutes ago, St1pe said:

How in the world are Leicester opting for Dean Smith over Rafa. What the fuck is wrong with clubs. That’s before considering their first choice was Yank Lampard. 

Because Benitez probably has no interest in a short-term deal. He wants a project that permits him sporting director control. 

[KaKa]

16 minutes ago, magvicar said:

How did he work wonders?

He was offered a new contract but he wanted 6 million a year, unless that's not correct.

He then chose to go to a Chinese club with a pretence that it was just the project he needed when it was plain to see it was the silly money on offer.

I have zero time for him.

 

No it is not correct. It's amazing that you are so critical of him without even knowing what went down.

 

Mike Ashley after messing him about most of his time here over signings, tried to strong arm him into an 8 year deal, which he understandably didn't want to commit to. He suggested and was ready to sign a one year extension for the meantime, which Ashley refused. His contract was up and so he then left.

[toon25]

6 hours ago, magvicar said:

I think Rafa is a poisoned chalice for any club to be fair.

I wasn't too keen on him at Newcastle as time went on. 

 

I don't like his style of football and I don't think players do.

I also don't think he has any man management skills.

 

But most of all I don't like the way he left the club, regardless of whether people hated Ashley.

His utter bull crap of saying that Chinese club was just the project he wanted was laughable. I mean it had nothing to do with the 12 million contract or so he was offered to do absolutely nothing more than any average Joe could've done.

 

I feel sorry for any club that takes him on, on the wages he would be asking.

I just don't like the bloke.

 

You're taking the absolute fucking piss here, like.

 

Rarely do I get riled over posts/posters, but this is complete and utter horse shit. The only reason we have a fucking club with a support base like we have today is because of Rafa.

 

'Poisoned chalice' for fucks sake. Fuck off.

[magvicar]

4 hours ago, Rafalove said:

 

 

 

Rafa admited the money was a reason for him leaving. It’s complete nonsense to suggest the primary reason for him going wasn’t  the lack of a project here. He had a number of offers while he was in the role from China and turned them all down. Money is nice even for someone like Rafa. He is already rich and a project close to his home in Merseyside and a project isn’t he best league would always be more enticing than an offer from China aslong he is treated with a Modicum of respect.

It's fairly simple for me.

When Rafa was at Newcastle I backed him as I do with any manager who looks to get us motivated and having a go.

Rafa started off trying to save us from relegation. It didn't work but 10 games left wasn't down to him failing, obviously.

I backed him and loved him in the championship.

He was backed very well in that championship and we scraped through to the title which was fantastic.

I backed him in our first season back in the premier league but I didn't enjoy a lot of the football and I always had the same back and forth arguments of him being a defensive master tactician and if we couldn't score too many we wouldn't concede.

 

I found it to be part true but not all true and the football was soul destroying at times.

However I still backed him.

 

It's not like I hated him or disliked him even but I didn't like the way he had us playing and then basically trying to ask for 6 million a season from a club that was struggling financially compared to many clubs.

 

Of course Ashley has to take a good portion of the blame but I lost a lot of respect for Rafa after that.

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by magvicar
spelling

[Dr.Spaceman]

17 minutes ago, magvicar said:

How did he work wonders?

He was offered a new contract but he wanted 6 million a year, unless that's not correct.

He then chose to go to a Chinese club with a pretence that it was just the project he needed when it was plain to see it was the silly money on offer.

I have zero time for him.

 

He kept us in the league looking pretty good at times against decent opposition with the likes of Ciaran Clark and Isaac Hayden in the team. We added Jacob Murphy, Javier Manquilo and Florian Lejeune to the side that was promoted, it was a pathetic summer transfer wise. Look at what other sides have been able to spend. Were he given the tools we'd have been so much better. Why's he not allowed to go to China when many were going there at the time? They were all promised something that the league then prevented.